12 Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital Consumer Reviews and Complaints

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Reviews 1 - 12

M. of CA
Verified Reviewer

Original review: Aug. 20, 2018

ER did not take me seriously. I don't go to an ER for fun. I don't go to an ER to be lied to, to be coddled, nor to be treated with contempt. When I can't get my ADD medication and I am going a little nuts and I have no other resources, I may go to an ER as a last resort to get help for a few days (read get a few days medication) until I can get some better long term care. Well, it turns out that in Santa Barbara, such long term care is not readily available. So, realizing this, I am trying to make arrangements elsewhere. But guess what? It turns out that it takes time to do that as well, and if you get caught short on medication your choices are to go to an ER or do without. I choose to go to an ER. SB Cottage Hospital will not help you.

Helpful

5 people found this review helpful

A. of CA
Verified Reviewer

Original review: July 20, 2017

I admitted myself, I of course was drunk. I asked for help, was rambling and incoherent. I was very polite. They stick me in a room for 24 hours. I spent most it alone. The German Swedish PhD told me I'm not sick, I'm only trying to get a bed. There are people that are bleeding and being kicked out. There were 8 other rooms all empty. She said I would say anything to keep my bed. Meanwhile my arm looks like hamburger where they drew blood. The visit cost $4000 and she gave me a sheet of shelters.

I walked my husband in to the ER due to the irregular heartbeat. The women by the name of "VENNESA" called his name to the room to take his info. OMG!! Absolutely rude, loud and unprofessional. My son was born in this hospital 28 years ago and since then me and my family been a big supporters and have donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to this hospital... We did moved to LA 5 years ago but we make trips to Santa Barbara on weekly basis. I have never been to any hospital's ER that had such a bad attitude towards its patients. We have elderly parents that been in and out of hospitals in different cities but never have I encountered such a behavior. It's always stressful enough to walk to the ER so I don't think someone with the title of the "RN" has the right to raise their voice be abrasive and have a rude attitude. Now I wonder all our support and donations over the past 28 years have been going for improvement of our cottage hospital or...??? I am saddened and in tears...

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7 people found this review helpful

K. of CA

Original review: Nov. 4, 2016

First off, I would like to say that not all nurses and doctors are bad at this hospital. With that being said, I had the worst care of my entire life and was literally scared for my life while I was in there. Let me explain. I am currently sick with mold toxicity and suffer from catatonic dystonia. I was visiting my doctor when I told her that I could not move my legs or my left arm. This was a new symptom and it surprised my doctor. So we decided to go to cottage hospital, which was right down the street, just to make sure this wasn't life threatening. I came in and it was busy so I expected a bit of a wait, which it was. They took me up to a bed on the second floor and that's where the bad care really came out. At this point they put an IV in me but never gave me fluids.

This was really unfortunate because the paralysis was getting stronger and I could no longer move my jaw correctly or swallow. Doctors came in and couldn't figure it out. I started shaking sometime the next morning. I have partial memory loss but I can't tell if that is because of dehydration, seizures, or just the mere stress of it. At one point I called the nurse's button (a type of phone at the gurney) because I was starting to shake and wanted help. Nobody came within 2-3 minutes, so I called again. I heard an answer on the other person's bed showing me that my gurney was not even set up properly. Somebody came in eventually to help me. A few hours later my mom was in the room and I started to seize. My mom called for help, nobody came and I started to throw up while seizing. Not such a good sign I would say.

A nurse eventually came in and told my mom out in the hall that I only seize when she is there. This was most definitely not true. So I asked if I could have my mom stay with me through the night in case she has to roll me over so that I don't aspirate (choke on vomit while seizing, which was starting to happen). They denied my request so I asked if a nurse could stay in the room with me. They said no to that as well. The doctor in charge of my room eventually came in. And I told him that I was seizing and didn't want to stay. He agreed and let me leave.

I have been in the hospital many time before this for different reasons and my care was very similar. I am not saying that every nurse is terrible. I had a nurse walk me down the halls telling me that she wished she could do more for me and agreeing that my level of care was on the bad side. But, I do agree that this hospital is only getting worse. Thanks for reading my review and I hope that it sheds some light on what happens behind the scenes.

RUDE NURSES. I asked to talk to the main managers at the er. I called twice, was hung up on. I asked their name. They say "I'M THE BOSS". So to my calculation they rather help each other than help a person in PAIN!!!

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6 people found this review helpful

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Cynthia of CA

Original review: June 20, 2014

So I called yesterday about my husband that went to the ER and waited for over five hours. Then he had surgery so when I called, I got transferred three different times. One even said he was not there!!! Really!! So I go in last night and they couldn't even tell what was going on!! And this morning I just got off the phone with them and they said, "Can you call back in a hour?" Really (are you people stupid), so I called back in a hour and then they said, "Can we call you back?" I was polite and said, "Listen, I don't understand. I want to talk with someone that can tell me what's going on" and he said, "Well, I don't know anything so someone will call you"!!! This hospital sucks, sucks, sucks. Not happy.

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16 people found this review helpful

Lorena of CA
Verified Reviewer

Original review: Sept. 26, 2013

My father was admitted to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital on September 17, 2012 because he suffered a heart attack. He had the hospital did not ask for any consent from me his oldest daughter or any of my father's family members and performed many surgeries on my father without consent including installing a heart pump, a leg surgery procedure and a skin graft procedure which failed by the way. My father became gravely ill with a pneumonia as a result of respiratory therapy that was given to my father administered by a nurse.

My father was making a full recovery when I was told that he suffered another heart attack. And I was told by nurses that the staff had to break his ribs to resuscitate him by performing cpr. They also paralyzed him without our consent and finally ordered a DNR against our consent. The doctors and staff harassed me and my family constantly urging us to take my father off life support. My father's brother witnessed how a nurse cold-heartedly murdered my father in front of his eyes by removing the breathing tube against our consent.

When I confronted the nurse that did this to my father she denied being in the room. The Doctor lied on my father's death certificate and denied ever performing any surgeries on my father. The death certificate indicated that my father was hospitalized on October 8, 2012 and died on October 8, 2012 and that is false information. My father was hospitalized on September 17, 2012 and was murdered by Cottage Hospital staff on October 8, 2012. I contacted FBI and the police, and my attorney has already confirmed that in fact Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital was responsible for murdering my father. I will be going to court soon to seek justice not only for my father but for all the patients that have been euthanized wrongfully at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital in the past and to seek justice for all the innocent patients that are being murdered now by the staff at Cottage Hospital.

Some people were fortunate to have a good experience with Cottage Hospital, but mine was horrible. If you have a family member with any kind of vulnerability, has a drug problem or is in rehab, step in right away and stay in contact with them, and be an active advocate for their care. My brother was admitted for heart failure, and was in Intensive Care for 10 days when a doctor ordered a "Do Not Resuscitate (DNR)" and removal of all life support without any family notification or attempt to locate his family. My 50-year-old brother was in rehab trying to get his life together and evidently the doctor determined his life was not worth saving, nor did he need to locate his family prior to making a decision to let him die.

Cottage did not follow their own policies of notifying the patient or family (or a surrogate) prior to making the decision to remove life support. He had an adult son and grandchildren, a sister and 2 brothers, yet none of us were notified he was in the hospital. This was strictly one doctor's order to end a life after 10 days of care - and there was no record of a case worker being assigned to help locate his family.

When I found out a year later on the "Internet" that my brother had died at Cottage, I was grief stricken and obtained his records. I immediately called the police to locate his adult son to see if he had been notified, which he had not. It took the police approx. 15 minutes to locate his son, but yet the hospital could not find his family or assign a case worker to locate us. Not wanting to make an issue of this or file a lawsuit, I filed a complaint with the State of California, Department of Public Health. It took them 2 years before they started an investigation. After it was completed, the investigator found that Cottage violated their own policies by not informing the family or documenting anything concerning efforts to notify the family. They assured me this complaint would become public record, which would have given me some closure. But, no, they did not post the complaint on their website and I was informed that if anyone wanted to see the complaint, they must notify their department and request it. But why would anyone request to see the complaint when they are not aware that one exists?

The only complaint listed on their website is about the baby being abducted from Cottage because it was all over the news. So be warned, if you have someone who may be vulnerable, keep in contact, prepare a Healthcare Directive, and if they are in the hospital, watch them day and night, and be an active advocate for their care to make sure their rights (and life) are protected. My brother's civil rights, as well as his life, ended after he was admitted to Cottage Hospital and he had no family there to protect him and be an advocate for his care.

My husband was taken by helicopter to Cottage Hospital for a fall that he had at home and he was unable to move his arms and legs and his neck was stiff. He was given so many tests before they knew what was wrong. The intern that was assigned his care had called a family meeting stating that he had two fatal diseases and was not going to make it. He was admitted with Valley Fever, endocarditis, staph septicemia and altered level of consciousness. I asked if there was any way for him to recover and doctor stated, "Sure, anything is possible."

I was explained two types of care: comfort care and aggressive care. I told the doctor that we were going with aggressive care. My husband was assigned two student doctors, one of them kept telling me to go to comfort care, and she was angry that I would not agree with her. I felt that they just wanted him dead. After four weeks, my husband improved and was transferred to Cottage Rehab. He was there for three days and had to be sent back to Cottage Hospital for more tests due to a stiff neck. He was improving and was now done with the antibiotics.

Each day he had a different nurse who was not familiar with him. I had to let them know that he could not be touched due to his pain. My husband would yell out from the pain he was in and all they did was shut the door to his room or over medicate him. Then four days before he passed, one of the main doctors came in to see him and stated that he was a miracle, that he was better and the antibiotics did their job; now all my husband had to do was get his strength back, so with that he was now due to be transferred to nursing home.

So since I had been there by his side the whole two months, I was going home to get clothes for him and would be back the next day. When I left, he was fine. The next morning, I called the hospital to check on him and he was fine. Around 5 pm, I received a call from the student doctor that I did not agree with saying that I better hurry and get there because my husband might not make it through the night, that his body was deteriorating. I did not understand. I live quite a distance so it was going to take me several hours to get there. I called back and was put on hold for several minutes and then another student doctor got on phone and told me that my husband passed away an hour ago!

I was so upset and asked why I was not contacted. I was told because they knew I was on my way and did not want to upset me. When I asked what he died from, I was told that his heart rate was going down and finally stopped. On his death certificate, it states he died from pneumonia. I feel his death was due to their negligence or physician assisted death. The student doctor who had wanted him to have comfort care was the one who wrote all orders for him the day he passed. She knew that I was not there and it would take me awhile to get there. He had such poor care and developed bed sores and I had to remind them to change him. I should have never left.

I began cancer treatments with Cottage Hospital in Santa Barbara, CA. on August 2011. Since the beginning of treatments, I have been yelled at, isolated, physically injured, as punishment for complaining, laughed at, called a liar, refused treatment due to complaints, lied to, verbally abused and ultimately misled when attempting to resolve my concerns.

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20 people found this review helpful

Corey of CA

Original review: June 26, 2010

He was given pain relief, had blood and urine taken and then had an ultra sound. We were taken care of by the internist assigned to us while they checked for gall and kidney stones, likely candidates. At one point, I, even partner even asked the internist, "well if they are inconclusive then do we do an MRI?" Her response was, "the next step would be a CAT scan." After the results came back showing nothing in any area, we were then told that he was being discharged. We demanded to see the doctor who had not seen us once yet and he proceeded to tell me that it was probably a gastritis and would go away.

We had pulled over in Santa Barbara on our way home to Los Angeles from Paso Robles. That is how extreme the pain was. So, I was skeptical and asked if he could at least prescribe a pain killer. My partner said, "I am afraid of the pain." The doctor replied, "well I'm not" He felt that if it was appendicitis or something more serious he did not want me to not feel it when it got worse. Which is fine except that why did he not try to find out if it was something more serious. Isn't that the point of the hospital? He literally showed us the door, after talking to us for one minute and said, "I have to keep moving."

We left. My partner was in excruciating pain all that night when I got back to Los Angeles. Woke up the next morning and went to Cedars Sinai. Cedars did a CAT scan immediately and found in under an hour that he had severe acute colitis and admitted him where I stayed for 4 days. Why did Cottage Hospital fail to test him further on something so basic as a CAT scan for someone who literally could not go more than one hour without narcotics from the pain, is beyond me.

Ultimately coming to Cottage hospital was a costly and completely pointless waste of time and the medical care was far from adequate. We sent a request to the hospital requesting a refund as they did not find the cause nor the solution to the problem and we had to go to another hospital in the end. They felt their choices were adequate and told us so in a response June 17. I informed them via phone that I would be filing a complaint with whomever would listen. If they were busy, fine, but admit they should have investigated the problem further before sending someone with severe colitis home with nothing more than a "good luck."

He was in pain for another day, had to go to another hospital the next day and start over. We had to pay all the ER fees all over again. This was costly for us.

My husband was admitted to the above hospital on 12/24 with the devastating diagnosis Leukemia (APL). The only known treatment for this disease is a drug called ATRA. 7 days into his treatment SBCH pharmacy department forgot to reorder this vital lifesaving drug. The pharmacy admitted "it was missed". My husband is fighting the disease and between vomiting and dealing with the effects of the medications, I called 4 hospitals and numerous pharmacies myself to find the drug. It was a nightmare and took 5 years off my life in stress. The indication for this drug is to take it twice a day at a specific dose (bmi) and this was missed.

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13 people found this review helpful

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Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital Company Information

Company Name:

Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital

Website:

www.cottagehealth.org

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